Ten years back on my first visit to the Indra
Jatra festival at Zero Point, Gangtok I happened to see a photo frame of a
small girl in a red costume significantly distinct from other girls of her age
with the painted third eye on her forehead. That was my first day with Indra
Jatra, Newar’s biggest festival at Sikkim, and of course with the goddess
Kumari, which in 2011 was declared a Government Holiday by the State Government
of Sikkim.
The festival highlighted the pulling off of a
chariot by the devotees with a photo frame of Goddess Kumari on it that was moved
through the streets of Gangtok from Zero Point to MG Marg. The chariot was led
by masked dancers with faces of deities in honour of God Indra and a long procession of Newar devotees.
Getting back to the story of Kumari, it is
said there are eleven living goddesses known as Kumari in Nepal. The Kumari of
Kathmandu also known as the Royal Kumari is considered to be the most
significant and largely followed by the Newar population across the globe.
In
Nepal, the Newars follow an exceptional
customary in which young girls with special characters are formally
installed as
living Kumari; regularly worshipped until they attain some biological impurities, and they are replaced with another young girl who also has to
undergo some set-ups to be identified as a Kumari. The history of Kumari
worship in Nepal is hidden in a great deal of legend and mystery. Though
there is evidence that a goddess of this name had been worshipped for a
very long
time.
Him Lal Ghimire in his article A Study of Living Goddess Kumārī: The Source
of Cultural Tourism in Nepal writes ‘Kumari is derived from the Sanskrit
word Kaumarya, which means princess. The word Kumārī literally means “virgin
girl” in Nepali. The Kumārī or Kumārī Devi comes from the Hindu faith however
most of the “traditional” Kumārī in Kathmandu is from the Newar community. The
Kumārī is a prepubescent girl who is hailed as manifestations of divine and
spiritual energy, the living incarnation of the Hindu goddess of power Durga
who is also named as Talejū (Tulaja) Bhawani, Bhagawati, Kālī, Pārvatī,
Tripurasundarī, Ambikā, etc’.
The word Taleju is derived from the
indigenous Newar language and translates approximately as the “Goddess of the
High Temple” as it is found in the book An
Advertised Secret: The Goddess Taleju
and the King of Kathmandu, in Tantra in Practice published in 2005 which
indicates her status as the chosen deity of Nepalese kings dating back to the
fourteenth century when this goddess likely first migrated to Nepal from
northern Indian.
Most of the chronicles and oral traditions
however place the origin of the royal worships in the Malla period. MR Allen mentions in his book Kumari or ’virgin’ worship in Kathmandu
valley published in 1976, naming Trailokya Malla, a late sixteenth-century
ruler of an undivided kingdom with his capital at Bhadgaon, Siddhinarasingh, a seventeenth-century king of Patan, and yet others Jayaprakasa Malla, the mid-eighteenth century
Kathmandu monarch who lost his kingdom to the Gorkhas among those who were
involved in Kumari worshipping culture.
“Throughout India, Nepal, and other regions
of South Asia there is a strong and long-standing ritual tradition—evidence of
Kumārī worship dates back to the origins of India’s oldest scripture, the Ṛig
Veda (circa 2000 B.C.E.)—in which prepubescent girls are venerated as
incarnations (avatāra) of the divine feminine, called Devī or Śakti” quotes Jeffrey
S. Lidke in his book Kumārī: Nepal’s Eternally Living Goddess.
Kumari is highly regarded as a deity whose
blessings come true for those who attend her. As such every day, many devotees
seek her blessings. She needs to follow her rituals very strictly that she
cannot talk to anyone except her family members or her caretakers. As such
every day, many devotees seek her blessings. A member of her family must
worship her each morning as she sits on her throne. Usually, it’s her mother who
dresses her every day in red clothing, paints her special design, and other
marking as Kumari has to appear. She lives in her Kumari Ghar with her parents
or caretakers; she can never go outside other than to attend a few major
festivals during the year. When she has to attend any ceremonies, she is
carried.
Legends say, Kumari used to bless the King by
marking his forehead with tika mixed
with uncooked rice grain and red colour. The blessing during the Kumari Jatra festival brought
good fortune to the King and his kingdom was protected from evil forces. The
identification of the royal Kumari with the Great Goddess reveals a key facet
of her identity and function as a living divinity. She is the embodiment of power or shakti that protects the nation against any and all enemies of the state.
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